By Elzio Barreto and Sangameswaran S
(Reuters) - Ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, Uber Technologies Inc's main rival in China, is working toward an initial public offering in the United States that would likely take place in 2018, a person with knowledge of the plan said on Monday.
The Apple Inc-backed firm is valued at around $25 billion and its stock market listing would be the most high-profile by a Chinese company in the United States since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's (N:BABA) IPO two years ago.
Didi has ruled out a stock market flotation in China, said the person, who declined to be identified as the discussions about a listing were private. There are nearly 800 companies waiting to get regulatory approval for an IPO in China, making it hard to predict when a listing might happen.
A Didi spokeswoman in Beijing said the company currently had no IPO plan.
The company, which dominates the ride-sharing market in China, was formerly known as Didi Kuaidi and was formed last year from the merger of two companies backed separately by e-commerce giant Alibaba and social network firm Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700).
Bloomberg earlier reported that Didi was targeting a New York listing as soon as next year. But the person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters a 2017 listing would be too early.
Didi is currently seeking to raise $3 billion from investors in its latest funding round, which includes an investment of $1 billion from Apple (O:AAPL). It had originally planned to raise $2 billion, but hiked its target after Apple's investment, the person added.
Company President Jean Liu met with Apple CEO Tim Cook in Beijing on Monday.
The company has raised about $6.3 billion including funding rounds before and after it became a merged company, according to research firm CB Insights.
Both Didi and Uber's [UBER.UL] Chinese arm have been spending heavily to subsidize rides and gain market share, increasing the need for them to seek new funding.
Didi completes more than 11 million rides a day, according to the company. Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook said the investment in Didi would help the U.S. firm better understand the critical Chinese market.